The Gonzaga Band

Review in Spalding Guardian on 24 January 2002

"Seduced by this that talented quintet

The Duke's Gonzaga of Mantua Band of court musicians seduced the South Holland Concerts audience in Spalding with a pot pourri of subtle sound effects and mood enhancing variations.

St Valentine's Day was a month early as we were wooed by this talented ensemble.  We heard the august sonorities of sackbutts (the origin of our trombone) and the warm mellow tones of the cornett, not to be confused with the modern cornet.  We heard the English pipes, small pipes or bagpipes, whose origins go back hundreds of years.

Add to these instruments the all too easily introverted lute and we had an intensely passionate ensemble.  The rich variety of music programmed took us on a journey through the 16th and 17th centuries.  Composer's Obrecht, Cabezon, Ferrabosco, Byrd and Dowland were represented, as was our own Henry VIII.

There were moments of light-hearted frolics, immensely passionate vigour, subtle shifting timbres, sensitive and seductive pleadings -but music is the food of love, is it not?

Jamie Savan demonstrated his multiple talents on the cornett and bagpipes with Adam Woolf and Laura Sherlock (sackbutts) and Fiona Russell (cornett).  Matthew Wadsworth played the lute with a sensitive technique, demonstrating the elegant chromaticism of this instrument and emphasising the fearsome technical demands.

Review by Michael Callaghan"

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